Urban Planner: February 11, 2014

Aboriginal dancer Sarain Carson-Fox will perform as part of Flesh Blood 2014. Photo by Ratul Debnath.

Comedy: Comedian Kenny Robinson wants to teach you about the side of black history that your school didn’t tell you about. The Toronto Public Library presents his show, An Hysterical Look at Black History, which details the progression of black comedy, including the influence of Dick Gregory and David Chappelle. Toronto Public Library, College/Shaw Branch (766 College Street), 2 p.m., FREE. Details

Talks: Have you already lost steam on that project you swore you’d start or finish in 2014? The Toronto Public Library’s U Can: Create Your Masterpiece can help you get motivated again. This moderated discussion will cover how to accomplish goals, find opportunities, and dodge obstacles along the way. Bloor/Gladstone Branch, Toronto Public Library (1101 Bloor Street West), 6:30 p.m., FREE. Details

Dance: The Chimera Project knows Canadian dance, and it’s giving us a hint of what the future holds with Fresh Blood 2014. Fifteen emerging choreographers have been selected and given five minutes each to present their solo or group dance works. This year’s roster features EmiMOTION, In’trinzik Dance Project, Sarain Carson-Fox, Social Growl Dance, and many more. Harbourfront Centre, Enwave Theatre (231 Queens Quay West), 8 p.m., $15-$25. Details

Ongoing…

Art: Virginia Woolf once remarked that “on or about December 1910, human character changed.” Whether it actually did is debatable, but the curators of “The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection 1910–1918” use that year to start their exhibition of works from a tumultuous decade of innovation in European fine art. Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West), all day, $16.50–$25 (includes general admission). Details

Film: Jean-Luc Godard’s effort to haul the cinema out of its infancy and into a kind of artistic maturity is the subject of TIFF Cinematheque’s newest and fullest retrospective in some time, a two-season programme entitled Godard Forever, which is intended to span the length of the filmmaker’s remarkable, varied career—from the jazz-infused improvisation of Breathless to the Marxist montage of recent work like Film Socialisme. The first half of that retrospective, a fifteen-film programme dedicated to what most consider Godard’s golden age—the period from 1960’s Breathless to 1967’s apocalyptic, decade-capping Weekend—runs this season, highlighting the period in which Godard famously moulded existing genres like Hollywood gangster pictures and musicals into his own unique creations. TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West). Details

Food: Time once again for the City of Toronto’s annual cold-weather enticement to get people out to fine dining establishments, the Winterlicious Festival. Over 200 restaurants have signed up to offer lunch and dinner prix-fixe menus over the official two-week period (many of them continue the pricing for longer), and the City’s also arranged for a number of different culinary events as well. For a full listing of the restaurants participating, visit the City’s website. $15–$45. Details

Fashion: Ichimaru—once one of Japan’s most famous geishas—left the profession in the 1930s to pursue a career in entertainment. Never really leaving her past life, she became known for adorning herself in the traditional geisha garb when performing in concert or on television. “From Geisha to Diva: The Kimonos of Ichimaru” exhibits several decades’ worth of outfits and personal effects, shedding light on the woman behind the makeup. Textile Museum of Canada (55 Centre Avenue), 11 a.m., $6-$15. Details

Art: Those who work in the arts are well acquainted with the balancing act between creative work and life-sustaining day jobs. “Poetic Poverty; Experiments in Living” explores the notion of the starving artist, and why it’s a life so many choose to lead. This two-week show features works by Erin Loree, Stella Cade, Kevin Columbus, and more. Creatures Creating (822 Dundas Street West), 12 p.m., FREE. Details

Performing Arts: The Canadian Opera Company brings a tale of forbidden love to its stage with Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera). Given an almost-modern treatment, the story has been transplanted to early 1960s America, where the romantic entanglements are played out against a background of Kennedy-era political tensions. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (145 Queen Street West), 7:30 p.m., $24-$332. Details

Theatre: The word “idiot” was originally used in ancient Greece to describe a person unconcerned with public affairs like politics, but dedicated to following private pursuits. The setting of Robert E. Sherwood’s 1936 romantic comedy Idiot’s Delight, a failing luxury hotel in the Italian Alps called the Hotel Monte Gabriele, initially seems to be full of idiots: newlyweds on their honeymoon, a group of burlesque singers and their manager, a blissfully genial waiter, and a couple of ornery managers sour over the lack of business. And when a spark flies between a beautiful and mysterious Russian and a smooth-talking American showbusinessman, while the other guests dance, drink, eat, and sing, there’s another piece of juicy plot that can be used to distract themselves, and the audience, from the war that’s literally raging outside the hotel windows. Young Centre for the Performing Arts (50 Tank House Lane), 7:30 p.m., $29–$74. Details

Theatre: Chances are, you have a couple of pictures on your phone that were taken for “someone special.” But what if they got shared with the world? Nightwood Theatre’s Free Outgoing focuses on the issues of sexuality and safety in our digital age. The play follows the plight of Deepa, a scholarly 15-year-old girl living in the conservative city of Chennai. When the sex video she makes with her boyfriend goes viral, she must deal with the fallout of becoming India’s most watched teenager. Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst Street), 8 p.m., $25-$45. Details

Dance: The producers of Riverdance have spawned yet another on-stage extravaganza. With a talented cast of 38, Heartbeat of Home is a high-energy show, combining Irish, Latin, and Afro-Cuban music and dance. Torontonians get the honour of seeing the production’s North American debut—take it in before it’s gone! Ed Mirvish Theatre (244 Victoria Avenue), 8 p.m., $35-$130. Details

Theatre: German theatre has gone over really well in Toronto in recent years. Playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig’s contribution to Volcano Theatre’s Africa project was widely praised, and twinwerks//zwillingswerk’s production of Felicia Zeller’s Kaspar and the Sea of Houses earned the company an outstanding production award at the 2011 SummerWorks (and a trip back to 2012’s festival). Now, Theatre Smash returns with Marius von Mayenburg’s The Ugly One, a clever slice of absurdism that works well on several levels. There’s light humour when the titular character discovers that everyone finds his face repugnant, and darker tones when his new, beautiful face becomes coveted obsessively by those around him. Tarragon Theatre (30 Bridgman Avenue), 8 p.m., $13–$53. Details

Theatre: In Tarragon Theatre’s current mainstage production, Flesh and Other Fragments of Love, there are both a marriage and a body on the rocks, and the prognosis isn’t good for either of them. While the human figure appears pale, cold, and lifeless, the marriage is slightly more alive, and the play chronicles its last dying breaths. Surprisingly, though, the young female cadaver is by far the more interesting of the two. Tarragon Theatre (30 Bridgman Avenue), 8 p.m., $21–$53. Details

Dance: Told through South American music and dance, Arrabal is the story of a young girl desperate to find out what happened to her father after the Argentine military made him disappear when she was just a baby. Her search leads her to the Tango clubs of Buenos Aires, where she discovers both the truth, and herself. Panasonic Theatre (651 Yonge Street), 8 p.m., $44-$84. Details

Theatre: Even though Billy was born deaf, his family strived to raise him the same way they would have a hearing-able child. Tribes sees him learn what it is to hear and be heard when he meets Sylvia, a young woman who is gradually becoming deaf herself. Presented by A Theatrefront Production, Canadian Stage, and Theatre Aquarius, this emotional play stars Stephen Drabicki and Holly Lewis. Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley Street), 8 p.m., $22-$47. Details

Happening soon:

Urban Planner is Torontoist‘s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email us with all the details (including images, if you’ve got any), ideally at least a week in advance.